General-service railway-car.



H. S. HART.

GENERAL SERVICE RAILWAY CAR. APPLICATION FILED ocT. I4, I9I8.

1 ,300,958, Patented Apr. 15, 14919.

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APLICATION FILED 001114, i918.

Patented Apr. 15, 1919.

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H. S. HART.

GENERAL SERVICE RAILWAY CAR.

Pafented Apnl, 1919.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. I4, 19418. 1,800,958.

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H. S. HART.

GENERAL SERVICE RAILWAY CAR.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. I4. 1918.

Patented Apr. 15, 1919.

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H. S. HART.

GENERAL SERVICE RAILWAY CAR.

APPLICATXON FILED 0CT.14,1918.

Patented A p1'. 15, 1919.

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GENERAL SERVICE RAILWAY CAR.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. i4. 1918. 1,300,958. Patented 1111.151919.

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HAERY s. HART, or OHIOAGO, ILLINOIs, AssIGNOR 'ro NATIONAL DUMP OARCOMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

GENERAL-sentirci: RAILWAY-OAR.

specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 15, 1919.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, HARRY S. HART, a citizenof the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook andState of Illinois, have invented certain new and `useful Improvements inGeneral-Service Railway-Cars, of which the followin'g is aspecification.

This invention relates to general service railway cars.

As is well known, the general service type ofA railway car is a carhaving a level iioor extending from end to end of the ycar and beinglargely composed of hinged doors arranged to drop toA discharge the loadfrom the car.

These cars'are commonly constructed with the entire Hoor composed of thedrop doors. Itis apparentr that in substituting for the ordinarystationary floor of a gondola or other flat bottom car, aI fioorcomposed of drop doors, no advantage can be taken of theloor as a shockand strain resisting element. Y

The shocks and strains must, therefore, be transmitted wholly throughthe underframe membersY or through the sides of the car, or both. Asrailroad cars are subjected to severe racking strains, it is necessaryin this type'of car toA make provision to resist such strains.

It has been sometimes the practice, therefore, in building generalAservice cars, to make a portion of the car Hoor extending inwardly fromthe end sills stationary with the remainder of the horizontal ioorcomposed of drop doors. This,1whi1e adding to the stiifnessof the car,necessitates shoveling out a portion of the load which is carried uponthe stationary ends.

The object of my present invention is, therefore, to provide a car ofthe general service type, which, while having the desirable feature ofdischarging substantially the entire load, will at the same time possessthe necessary strength for the resisting of racking strains and also toprovide a construction by meansof which the floor of the car may beconsiderably lowered, making it possible to increase the carryingcapacity of the car without increasing its length.`

`In accomplishing these objects, I have provided a car of this typewithI a rigid stationary door extending inwardly from the end sill andsloping downwardly and outwardly, toward the sides of the car. Thisrigid floor portion may extend inwardly to such distance as may bedesirable so as to connect to underframe members of the car, such `asthe bolster or an adjacent cross member, forming at the same time adischarging floor from which dumpable material may readily be unloaded.The remainder of the floor between these rigid portions l form as usualof drop' doors normally substantially horizontal and substantially inthe plane with the center sill to form therewith a continuous levelfloor.

The invention will be further understood by reference to the followingspecification and drawings, inwhichf.

Figure l is a: fragmentary side elevation of a general service carembodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary plan view of the same car;

Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the same car;

Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view of the same car, the sectionbeingtaken over one of the trucks;

Fig, 5 is a fragmentary plan view of a general service car embodying amodified floor structure over the trucks; and,

Fig. 6 is a transverseA sectional: view of a general service car showinga further modified form of floor.

As is well known, a general service car may be used for carryingdumpab'le material one day, and for carrying non-dump'able material,such as lumber and the like, another day. As stated above, heretofore itsometimes has been the practice to provide general service cars with ahorizontal fiat bottom floor in a single plane and including pivotallymounted dump doors largely or entirely throughout the length of the car.With such construction it is necessary that the floor of the car be at arelatively high level in order that' the door doorsv over the trucksmight be moved into an open position for dumping a dumpable `load to thesides of the car. The carrying capacity of the general service car canbe increased effectively if the floor of the car over the trucks islowered, and the car be made self-cleaning if these door portions aremade to slope downwardly and outwardly toward the sides i of the car,the stiffness `and rigidity of the car at the same time being maintainedat a maximum.

ATo this end I have provided a general service car having a body10,including sides 11, ends 12, and a single floor, the end portions 13of which over the trucks preferably are A-shaped, including rigidstationary portions 14 which, as shown in Figs. 1 to 5, inclusive,extend from the center of the car at the level of the top of the centersill 15 downwardly and outwardly toward the sides of the car. Thedischarge openings between the` lower edges of the sides 11 of the carand the outer edges of the sloping stationary floor members 14, normallyare closed by lside dump doors 15 which may be operated in any suitablemanner, such as operating shafts 16 and chains 1'7 connecting saidshafts with the lower edges of said doors 15.

By referring to Fig. l of the drawings, it will be noted that thestationary A-shaped floor portion 18 over the trucks at each end extendsinwardly from the end sill 27 to the bolster 18 and is connected to theunderframe members to stiifen the car. However, if de sired,the'stationary A-shaped Hoor portion 13 may extend the full length ofthe truck to an adjacent cross member 28, as shown 1n Fig. 5, in whichevent the side dump doors will extend the same length. By giving theHoor portions over the truck of the general service car an A-shapedconstruction, the eil'ective carrying capacity of the car is effectivelyincreased, the car made self-cleaning, and at the same time because ofthe rigid connection of these floor portions to the cross members thestiffness and rigidity of the car body is maintained at a maximumwithout the use of an abnormally heavy and expensive underframestructure.

Y The floor intermediate the trucks comprises dump doors 19 which arepivotally connected along the center sill and normally being in ahorizontal position in the same plane with the upper surface of thecenter sill to provide a flat bottom. These dump doors 19 preferably arearranged to swing downwardly and inwardly away from the sides of the carfor dumping the load outwardly with respect to the track. The operatingmechanism for the floor doors 19 may include operating shafts 21 andsuitable chains A22 connecting said shafts with lsaid doors. The doors19 when in their normal horizontal position, not only are suitable forsupporting a dumpableload, but also anondumpable load, such as lumberand the like. The sloping oor portions over Vthe trucks may receive andhold any of the usual material' shipped in the gondola or other flatbottom type of car.

construction in which the floor is set at a lower level than shown inthe otherfigures of trolled by the same operating mechanism rey ferredto in connection with the other gures of the drawings. The modiicationprovides an arrangement in which the capacity of the car is increased anadditional amount. .It will be noted in all the forms shown that thefloor portions over the trucks extend toa level lower than the floorportion intermediate the trucks.

By means of my invention I have provided a general service railway carin which the sloping oor portions overfthe trucks make the carself-cleaning, Yor substantially so, increase the capacity of the car,and. give the car a stiff and rigid construction capable' of resistingeffectively the racking strainsoccurring in regular service without theuse of a heavy and expensive underframe, and at the same time providinga car suitable for carrying in an approved manner dumpableandnon-dumpable loads.

It is my intention to cover all modifications of the invention fallingwithin. the spirit and scope of the following claims.

I claim:

Y 1. A car of the class described havingthe usual underframe comprisinglongitudinal and transverse members and a floor, said floor at the endsof the car comprising .stationary portions sloping downwardly andoutwardly toward the sides of the car, said stationary portions beingdisposed below fthe upper level of the longitudinal and transversemembers and being rigidly connected to adjacent transverse members, theremainder of the floor being substantially horizontal and in a singleplane and composed largely of doors arranged to discharge the oac.

2. Acar of the class described having the usual underframe comprising'longitudinal and transverse membersand a single floor, the floorbetween adjacent transverse members at the end of the car being formedwith 4downwardly and outwardly slopingportions extending between saidtransverse'rnembers and rigidly connected thereto, the floor between theremaining transverse members being substantially horizontal and composedof doors hinged at or near the center sill and dropping away from thesides of the car to discharge the load. Y Y

3. A car of the class described,'having a single floor which comprisesstationary down` wardly and outwardly sloping end portions extendinginwardly from the end sills and being connected to the underframemembers to stiffen the car, the remainder of the Hoor beingsubstantially horizontal and substantially in the plane of the top ofthe center sill.

4. In a general service railway car, a car body having sides, ends and asingle floor, the floor over the trucks comprising stationary portionsextending downwardly and outwardly toward the sides of the car betweenadjacent cross members and being rigidly connected thereto, and sidedump doors eX- tending between the lower edges of the sides of the carand the outer edges of the stationl ary portions, the floor between thetrucks comprising pivotally mounted doons normally in a substantiallyhorizontal plane and above portions of the floor over the trucks.

5. A car of the class described having the usual underframe comprisinglongitudinal and transverse members and a single floor, the floorbetween adjacent transverse members at the end of the car being formedwith downwardly and outwardly sloping portions extending between saidtransverse members and rigidly connected thereto, the fioor between theremaining transverse members being substantially horizontal and composedof doors hinged at or near the center sill and dropping away from thesides of the car to discharge the load, and operating mechanism for saiddoors.

Signed at Chicago, Illinois, this 10th day of October, 1918.

HARRY S. HART.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C.

